Apple and Cingular are an unholy marriage.
When two companies get together for exclusivity agreements, it takes freedom out of the consumer’s hands. That’s what makes Apple’s announcement of their iPhone bittersweet, as it will be tied to the Cingular network for years.
I am not the only one in an uproar about this, as the blogosphere can attest to. Apple could likely have made just as much money by selling the phone directly, and keeping it unlocked for use on any GSM network. Of course, we don’t have enough information yet to know whether or not the phones are unlocked, or if unlocked phones will be sold overseas. Even if the latter is true, it means we’ll be able to buy the iPhone and use it on non-Cingular networks, even if that means we have to shell out an extra hundred dollars or so.
Right now, the iPhone looks like it has excellent potential to challenge the competitors out there, though I’m still a bit skeptical as to how well typing on the phone will work. Assuming the execution is as good as the hype thus far, I’d certainly be willing to scrap my Sidekick 3 in favor of Apple’s offering, but I don’t want to have to switch to Cingular for it.
With a release date of June, there’s still plenty of time for information on unlocked iPhones to creep up through the web, so here’s hoping we consumers don’t get screwed because of an Apple/Cingular affair.
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Exclusivity deals make babies cry. It hurts competition, limits consumer power, and slows progress. Shame on Apple for taking a payoff and sacrificing customer power. I’d thought they learned their lesson after the success of making Ipod open to Macs and PCs (open to all the computer market, not just Apple). I guess not.
Ultimately Apple have only hurt themselves. They could have leapt into HUGE marketshare if they made the phone available for all carriers. Instead, they have limited their possible customer base to less than 30% of the U.S. market before a single phone is sold.
Such a shame, I could have used a new toy but I will not leave Sprint, at least not until my agreement runs out until 2025. Damn Sprint rebate fine print. Until ‘25, I will just have to carry separate Ipods and Razrs.
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